4Q422 – Paraphrase of Genesis and Exodus, Fragment I

4Q422 – Paraphrase of Genesis and Exodus, Fragment I

… their host He made by word. ch He had made. And holy spirit…. e living and creeping res… th to rule over it and to eat the frui… wout eating from the tree of kn…peace/payment. (]])

The ‘he’ in bold I would take be Adam as it follows the story line easy enough. I note then that the interpreter here cites Adam as the source of the rebellion and not Eve. In my opinion, the Canonical text says the same thing, but few see it that way.

Most works call this section the paraphrase of Genesis and Exodus, as noted above, but I tend to agree with Dorothy Peters (p139-140) that the title is misleading. It seems to me, from a short read admittedly, that it is not merely a paraphrase but a work based on the text(s) itself.

Peters notes,

“Evil inclination” and “work” follow immediately after reference to the tree of knowledge (4Q422 I, 6–12) and act as “a bridge to the Flood narrative.”41 “Inclination” in 4Q422, then, prompts acts of judgment (cf. Gen 6:5) and not God’s compassion, as in Festival Prayers.

Skipping the He rose against Him line. Adam’s sin is rebellion, of course, and requires judgment. I don’t know – just thinking aloud here – but there seems to me to be more there than just a retelling of the Fall. If Adam is seen as Israel, then maybe the rebellion (turning to other gods/forgetting) is now being met with the price of peace/payment which is exile (both for Israel at large and the Qumran community).